01 19 09 A Suffering Nation

“And that's not all. We are full of joy even when we suffer. We know that our suffering gives us the strength to go on.” (Romans 5:3 NIrV)

Pressures in life tend to challenge folks, don’t they? It shows what we’re made of. One’s true colors show under pressure. Dr. Martin Luther King faced the challenges and pressures with not only a resolve to see change, but a faith to trust in the promises of God. I can’t believe it was simply a desire to change society that drove Dr. King, but a desire to see the hearts of men and women changed. To truly treat folks equally and judge one another by character rather than appearance; it takes a change of heart. Can we do that today? To coin a phrase; Yes we can!

Paul tells us that we can boast or triumph in our pressures. The Greek word for tribulation is “pressure.” It is an outside force that pushes on you and exerts stress on you to yield and conform to it. Paul tells us that we can triumph in these pressures as believers because of what the stress produces. The pressures of life, says Paul, are used by God to produce perseverance and determination. This is the quality of a person who when faced with problems he has no control over (and to which his only responses are either to endure with anger or to endure with patience) chooses to endure with patience. Paul goes on to say that the practice of fortitude under pressure produces in us character which has been proven. Determination in trials proves that the godly qualities we practice are what really motivate and control us, rain or shine. This proof of our growth toward godliness then encourages us all the more to trust in our hope: Jesus’ plans for our future glory that God has guaranteed us through His Son.

So how do we know we won’t be disillusioned? Can we possibly believe God will bring us through our trials and conform us to the image of Christ and thus saved forever?” Paul replies, “We know because of God’s love for us.”

Paul proclaims that because of Jesus Christ, the object of our faith, and what He has done we do in fact have peace with God and we can boast in our position, our pressures, and our possession of reconciliation. He is that hope and our confidence!

So as we lift up President Obama and his family today in prayer as he approaches severe challenges and pressures, we pray God’s blessings over them. We pray for the hope of the Nation to not simply change for change sake, but to seek God’s wisdom and favor to change the heats of men and women throughout the world. We pray for the President and this Nation to be open to the Spirit of God and to yield to His grace, His counsel, and the saving power of the blood of Christ. We pray that Mr. Obama’s heart is in your hands Lord (Proverbs 21:1) and that this Nation will again be one Nation under God! Blessed indeed is the Nation whose God is the Lord! (Psalm 33:12) Can we trust God at His word? Yes we can!